Work Text:
“Come on, that’s it?” Your coworker whisper-yells for half the studio to hear.
“Can you not interrogate me on my love life while we’re on air?” You reply.
“Well it’s not like you talk about it anywhere else.” She retorts.
She’s not wrong. You’re already almost always on the front pages of papers and magazines trying to get all the juicy details of your romantic relationship with one of the biggest names in the world. Always speculating when you’ll get a ring, or a house, or a baby, as if you haven’t only been dating for 10 months.
“I’m sorry if I want to keep private what I can. It’s not anyone’s business so I’ll thank you to take your nose back out of it.”
“It’s everyone’s business when you’re dating Johnny Storm.” She takes a sip of her coffee and wiggles her eyebrows, as if you’re some character in some drama show and not a human being with boundaries. You roll your eyes and turn your attention back to the broadcast.
“We’ll return with the weather right after these brief messages” The studio bell rings and you instinctively chuckle at the noise.
"Jeez is it always that loud?" Johnny exclaims, jumping out of his skin at the sound of the bell.
"Yes Johnny, that's sort of the point." Ben replies with a smirk, not looking up from his newspaper.
"Actually it's not supposed to be that loud," Their heads turn to you, unaware someone was listening to them as they waited for their cue backstage, "I've been nagging maintenance for months but why would they listen to me, and my ideas for making the show run smoother and audience curated segments to know what the people are thinking and feelings but what would I know, it's not like I got a degree for this kind of stuff..." You trail off, realizing you've been eavesdropping. "I'm sorry, I have no manners at all, sorry sometimes I get in my head and don't think about what I'm doing or uh, who I'm talking to, hi! Nice to meet you! I'll be over in the booth trying not to bother anyone from there"
"No no keep listening, you're actually on my side and no ones ever on my side when it comes to petty arguments so I really wanna revel in this for a minute." Johnny approaches you and you suddenly remember how messy your hair is and how the coffee breath you must have is not something you need anyone experiencing the smell of so your natural instinct is to run for the safety of the women's bathroom. Yet for some reason you're frozen in place, as if his piercing blue eyes have glued your mismatched flats to the floor.
"What was your name again?" He asks you, tilting his head, as if your disastrous nature is piquing his interest like you're some sort of wild animal in a zoo. You tell him your name as you're hit with the scent of his cologne. For some reason you expected Johnny to smell like a campfire, but the sweet vanilla aroma is fitting in a way you'd never expect, which makes you aware of how close he is to you, some woman he's never spoken to. He lowers his voice and you listen intently, as if he's swearing you to secrecy "We should team up cause I bet you'd have tons of ideas on getting him back live on television."
"We're on in 5 people!" A head pokes out of the curtains to signal the crew, snapping you back to reality.
"Right, I um, should get ready for air and yeah." You trail off, getting ready to sprint to the booth, when you hear Johnny call your name again that sends a warmth, for lack of a better term, up to your ears.
"I'd be happy to listen to your ideas." He flashes a smile at you, its almost the usual, cocky, playboy swoon worthy smile, but with a kind, reassuring look in his eyes, as he walks backwards towards the stage, only to bump into a chair he hadn't noticed and fall backwards into it, leading to an eruption of laughter from Ben. While trying to stand and regain his balance, he shoots a fireball to silence Ben's laughter, only to miss and hit the studios bell, disintegrating it instantly. His hands grip the back of his neck as he winces in embarrassment.
"You know what, it's fine, we can cover it right boss?" Johnny says patting Reeds shoulder. Reed simply pinches the bridge of his nose and starts counting backwards from 100.
"Johnny stop being the reason my husband loses sleep." Sue says, guiding Reed away.
"Hey it's actually Ben's fault when you think about it." He turns his head to you with a smirk as the team walks towards the stage, "Guess maintenance will have to come down and take care of it now right?"
Most of the studio lights have turned off by now as you finish packing your things to leave for the day. You've come a long way since that quiet little booth assistant who couldn't form a sentence to save her life and now you pretty much run the broadcast booth like a well oiled machine. After that day, you started working on building the confidence you had in yourself, speaking up in meetings, helping other coworkers be more efficient. If a superhero cared what you had to say, everyone else should too. When your crew went for an on site interview at the Baxter building 4 months after that day, you were shocked to find the project was given to you to lead. Even more to your surprise, you were remembered. And now, 10 months, countless dates, paparazzi dodges and midnight flights later, you've finally started being seen as a human, not just by others, but by yourself too.
"You're the one dating the human torch, right?" A sudden voice jolts you out of your train of thought and back into the dimly lit booth. You look up to see one of the young interns staring you down from the doorway.
"Yes, What are you still doing here? I thought everyone left."
"Forgot my bag," She gestures to her backpack, "Doesn't it scare you?"
"What, dating him?" You blink quizzically, "Why would I be scared of my own boyfriend?"
"Well I'm a platinum member of his fan club so I'm kind of a Johnny expert," You fight the urge to roll your eyes. "Honestly it's kind of crazy that you've been together this long and nothings happened to you. Not that he'd do anything because he's a gentleman of course. But I'm just saying that if you're gonna be dating him you must be scared of getting hurt."
"It's not like I'm going with him to fight aliens." You cross your arms. She rolls her eyes and you fight the urge to roll her head.
"Yeah but I mean what if they come for you? Wouldn't that scare you? If you're gonna be dating a superhero, you have to be ok with the possibility of it getting you killed." A heavy silence fills the air.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean? Are you threatening me?" You take a step back, heart pounding in your ears.
"Ugh whatever you're not even listening. All I'm saying is that if it were you or the city, he'd have to pick the city and let you die. It's his job ya know?" The intern shrugged and walked out of your view.
What does she mean 'You or the city?' He wouldn't let you die. Would he? It is his job. You certainly wouldn't want the whole world to fall just for your sake. But it puts an image in your mind that you can't shake. A cold, quiet hero, who would do anything to save his home. You try to shake the thought but your brain holds tight to the picture. If he had to choose between a girlfriend, and everything he loves, he wouldn't hesitate to make the right choice for everyone else.
He wouldn't hesitate.
"Coat?" H.E.R.B.I.E says looking up at your pail face as you step off the elevator. You silently hand it over, still wrapped up in the plaguing visions you've been fighting on the subway ride over to the Baxter building. You mindlessly make your way up to Johnny's room, standing in front of the door like a statue, worried you'll walk in and see the person you've been envisioning for the past hour. You slowly come too when you realize someone has been repeating your name.
"Are you alright?" Sue approaches you with Franklin on her hip, as if an alarm had gone off that told her to call you back down to the floor. Your face heats in embarrassment as you try not to think about how long you've been standing in the hallway looking like a zombie. You quickly wipe the tear that snuck onto your cheek and whip around to face her, wishing, if only for a moment, you could make yourself invisible like she could.
"Um, yeah it's uh, been a long day." You say in an unconvincing positive tone. She glances up and down at you, to make sure that your at least physically unharmed.
"Well, you know where Johnny is if you wanna talk to him," She gestures to his door behind you, "and I'll be in the nursery reading Franklin a story, in case you need someone else to talk to." You feel the gust of the door opening and are hit with that same vanilla scent that sends a warmth into your heart.
"Hey darling, I thought I heard you." You turn your head to meet his eyes and a see of calm overcomes over you. He's like a wave of comfort with his white shirt untucked, and his messy hair, and his headphones dangling around his neck. He takes your hand in his. "Come here, I wanna show you something I found."
"Hi Johnny." He jumps at the sound of his siters voice, completely unaware she was standing 5 feet away from him.
"Oh, yeah, hey." His eyes fall back onto you as he starts pulling you inside.
"Thank you." You say to her as she smirks and you give a small wave to Franklin before the door closes.
"You've got to hear this come on." He starts pulling his headphones off with his free hand to put over your ears.
"Hi honey, my day was nice, how was yours?" You chuckle at his aloofness. He sighs and hangs his head, his arms drooping down. He places his headphones on the table and takes your hand into both of his.
"Hi, my sweet, my darling, I will not be able to rest until I know what the conditions of your day were like." He says in a deadpan voice. The events of the day replay in your head and you see the intern who you spoke with reappear in your mind.
"If you're gonna be dating a superhero, you have to be ok with the possibility of it getting you killed."
"Hey you there?" He says, a slight concern falling over his face.
"Oh yeah, I just," You pause, franticly thinking of an excuse for your sudden comatose behavior, "Someone threw up on the subway ride here." Not a lie that did happen, it just didn't phase you in the way you're putting on that it did.
"Oh, what color was it?" You snap back to the room and smack him in the arm.
"Ew Johnny! Why do you want to know that?" He lifts you up and kisses your cheek.
"Cause I'm trying to distract you from what's actually bothering you." He says into your ear.
"Pink, you freak." You wrap your arms around his neck and embrace him tightly, ensuring he doesn't see your face as you utter your next words. "So uh, one of the interns is a "platinum member" of the Johnny Storm fan club."
"Oh really?" He sets you down in one of his chairs. "You know, those girls are either the sweetest people on the planet or they're having rituals in their basements with my toe nail clippings." He sits down on the floor and leans his head into your legs and you instinctively start running your fingers along his hair. "So, which one was she?"
"If it were you or the city, he'd have to pick the city and let you die."
"Um, along the lines of she sleeps with a framed picture of you every night." You can't tell him everything she said. He'd think its ridiculous and laugh you out of the room. It's stupid to be letting her words take over your mind so much. "She said she was a "Johnny expert."
"Wow, was she the one who tried to give me a bear with a hidden camera in it?" You throw your head back in a laugh.
"No darling, that was me. And if you didn't like my gift you could've just said so." You tease. he spins around and wraps his hands around your upper arms.
"Dear if you had given that to me, it would have gone in the bathroom." He says, his gaze locks onto you as you feel your face begin to heat. He lifts his chin, his eyes not leaving yours. "There's that shade of red that got me in the first place."
"Ugh! Scoundrel!" You push him onto the floor and stand up. "Not before dinner." He climbs to his feet and cups your face in his hands, placing a kiss on your lips like he's waking you from an eternal sleep.
"Whatever you say dearest."
"It is your choice, torch. Your measly planet, or the girl." The creature had you in some kind of air lock room, banging on the glass. You screamed begging Johnny to meet your eye. Or at least you thought it was Johnny. Something about him was wrong, as if the fire he burned with was cold as ice. You felt that same cold seeping through the hull of the spaceship you were in, pulling you into its tundra.
He did finally look up and meet your gaze, but there was nothing in his eyes. It sent a shiver running through your body as you knew what words were about to come out of his mouth before he even said them. He turned to the creature.
"Do it."
The airlock door opened and you were sucked out into the void.
Cold.
He told you it was cold but you never imagined this.
No attempts were made to breathe the air that was non existent. It was as if you couldn't feel the skin on your own body.
And then you saw the stars.
You had remembered how beautiful he said they were. How he wanted to take you to one. Guess he did in a way. He was right. They are different when you're not held by gravity. When you feel as if you can reach and grab one in your hands. But you couldn't feel your hands anymore.
Funny. You thought suffocating in space would be a lot faster than it was. As little as you could feel in your body, you could feel your lungs burning.
And then you heard your name.
"Can you hear me?" Johnny yelled. As you came to, you realized you were on the floor, curled in a ball, hyperventilating and shivering. "Baby answer me, are you ok?" You turned your face to his, and the guilt rushed through your veins. You made him worry. The last thing you wanted for him to do today was worry about you. The thought made you sink deeper into your panic and your gasps for air were soon mixing with sobs.
"Hey come here, you've got to sit up." He forced you into a sitting position and took your hands. "Baby your freezing, come here." He lifted you back onto the bed and wrapped his arms around you, rubbing his hand up and down your back. "Breathe, honey breathe." The room slowed it's spinning as he stabilized you in his arms. You focused on the cotton of his shirt, the smell of the detergent, as your breathing steadied. He felt you calm down and pulled back and met your eyes, your face in his hands.
Warm.
"What color is the wall?"
"Brown."
"What color are the sheets?"
"White."
"What color are my eyes?"
"Orange." His head snapped back, unaware he had a slight glow. He blinked away the flare and held up his hand.
"How many fingers?"
"2" He sighed in relief and began wiping your tears.
"What are you not telling me?" Your breath hitched. He was never this direct. But you knew you couldn't hide it anymore. Not if it would start taking over your subconscious. Your head tilted down.
"Please," You whispered, a tear falling onto your leg, "Don't think it's stupid."
"Hey hey hey," He lifted your chin, "The only thing that I think it stupid is that you think I would think what you worry about is stupid. In a world where I can do this," He lit a flame on his fist, "And my roommate is a cosmic space rock, nothing could be more stupid than that." He extinguished and brushed your cheek with his thumb. You take a deep breath.
"What would you do..." You paused. For how much they'd been in your head, putting all your fears into words was much harder than you realized. But Johnny's firm, reassuring gaze made you less worried about how little they would make sense. "If I was... in trouble, and um, you had to pick?"
"Pick what?"
"Me, or... everything." The quiet of the night filled the room. His eyes showed a fraction of the thoughts racing in his head. "If it was me, or the city, the world, everything you loved... I don't know." You shook your head.
"You are everything I love."
You hadn't said the famous L word as often as most couples. Not that you didn't love each other. It was as if you wanted to save it for when it would have the weight it does.
This was one of those times.
"I would never," He pulled you closer to him, "ever, let anyone, get close enough to even thinking about putting you in that position. If anyone ever hurt even a hair in your head I would singe their bones into ash." His eyes closed and a tear fell down his face.
"Johnny, I'm sorry I-" He pulled you into an embrace, holding your head in his hand like it was gold.
"There is no power in this universe that would ever be able to stop me if something happened to you." He pulled back and kissed you, melting away the fear you had with a gentle touch of his lips. He then held you, pressing his forehead to yours.
"I love you." You whisper. It's such a beautiful thing to say. And to mean. Your eyes met.
"I need to know that you trust me."
"I do."
"You do what?"
"I trust you Johnny." He softly smiles.
"You know, if anybody hurts you, I'm going to prison for life."
"Well, I'd write you letters in jail."
"How sweet. Now tell me what this girls name is so I can get her kicked out of the fan club." You giggle, sliding your head down to his chest.
"Come on, don't go giving some teenager her first heart break."
"Of course she was a teenager." He slaps his hand to his forehead. "Teenagers are ruthless. I fully believe a teenager could cause the biggest, most awful, most tragic event in human history and the future foundation would be hopeless to stop the despair."
"Oh, don't be so dramatic, she'll grow out of it." You fall back onto your pillow, yawning as a tiredness washes over you. Johnny crawls under the covers next to you and wraps his arms around your waist.
"I love you."
It's such a beautiful thing to hear.